Monthly Archives: July 2020

Mumbai footpath girl passes Maharashtra SSC exams with 40% marks. Video leaves internet in tears

Amazing Feats, Education, ,

Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

Mumbai girl Asma is a student of Hirjeebhoy Allarakhia and Laljeebhoy Sajan Girls High School.

Asma Salim Shaikh from Mumbai passed Maharashtra SSC exams despite staying at a footpath

A Mumbai girl, who stays at a footpath, along with her family, caught the limelight after she scored 40 per cent marks in Maharasthra SSC exams.

Asma Salim Shaikh’s father Salim Shaikh said, “It’s the happiest day of her life, because she has scored 40 per cent in Maharashtra SSC exam.”

Asma is a student of Hirjeebhoy Allarakhia and Laljeebhoy Sajan Girls High School. She has spent her life on the pavement outside Azad Maidan near CST. She did not have access to basic amenities like a place to study or stationary. She used to study on the footpath under the streetlight. Seventeen-year-old Asma now plans to take Arts in Junior college.

Asma celebrates with her father

Her video in which she is seen celebrating the feat with her father went viral over social media. The video has received more than 2 lakh views and more than 10,000 likes.

Asma stated that her father sells lemonade on the roadside to earn a living. The financial condition of the house is not good. Despite this, her father got her admission done in a Mumbai school and allowed and supported her to complete her school.

Asma said, “I studied under street lights as I did not have means to get a comfortable place for studying. Now, I will pursue Arts in junior college.”

The girl got the support of former Union Minister of State Milind Deora saying that he will help the girl in every possible way.

In a similar development, Bharti Khandekar, who lived with her parents and two younger brothers on a footpath in the Shivaji Nagar Market area in Indore, secured 68 per cent marks in the Madhya Pradesh state board examinations.

Her story was highlighted by the media and this led to Indore Municipal Corporation deciding to allot the family a flat.

Municipal commissioner Pratibha Pal said that, “Under a scheme for the economically weaker section, we have allotted them a one-BHK (bedroom-hall-kitchen) flat in Bhoori Tekri area.”

She further stated that when she met Bharti, she was amazed by her confidence. Bharti stated that she wants to be an IAS officer when she grows up.

source: http://www.ibtimes.com / International Business Times / Home> India / by Anjali Singh Deswal / July 30th, 2020

Munaf Patel Sets up Coronavirus Centre in his Village; Former Teammates Praise Efforts

Community Involvement / Social Issues, COVID 19 - Community of Soldiers, Sports, ,

Ikhar village (Bharuch District), GUJARAT :

After hanging up his boots, he decided to live in his village. People lovingly call him Munna in Ikhar.

Former India cricketer Munaf Patel has informed that they are starting COVID-19 centre in their village Ikhar, located in Bharuch district of Gujarat.

Patel took to Instagram to spread the word about their new initiative. Sharing pictures of the newly set up COVID-19 centre, Patel thanked the health department and government officials.

The cricketer, who was the part of 2011 World Cup winning team, received appreciation from his former colleagues. Responding to his post, Gautam Gambhir asked him to keep up the good work. Gambhir said, “We are in it together.”

Pragyan Ojha replied “Well done Patel,” while Yuvraj Singh wrote, “Great work sarfi.”

In April, when four people tested positive for COVID-19 in Bharuch district, Patel decided to spread the message of social distancing to prevent the spread of the deadly virus, reported The Indian Express.

The local administration in view of the situation at that time asked the fast bowler, who is an influential figure in the region, to explain to people the importance of physical distancing.

Patel told the national daily that their village was sealed after surfacing four COVID-19 cases, adding that the panchayat and the committee which he is part of made sure that essential items reached homes.

He advised people in his village and district to not stay in groups and wash hands at regular intervals to keep the infection at bay.

After hanging up his boots, he decided to live in his village. People lovingly call him Munna in Ikhar.

source: http://www.news18.com / News18 / Home> Cricket Next / by Trending Desk / July 29th, 2020

Meet Noor Inayat Khan, the Indian-origin British spy who may soon be on coins in UK

Amazing Feats, Books (incl.Biographies - w.e.f.01 jan 2018 ), Community Involvement / Social Issues, Karnataka (under research project), Leaders, NRI's / PIO's, World Opinion, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Baroda, MADHYA PRADESH / Paris, FRANCE / London, UNITED KINGDOM :

If the proposal is passed, it will be the first time that non-white people will be featured on British coins or notes.

Born in Moscow to an Indian father and an American mother, Noor’s family moved to London and then to Paris during the First World War. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

British media reported this week that Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is considering a proposal to feature historical figures from the Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) community of the country on a set of coins titled ‘Service to the Nation’.

If the proposal is passed, it will be the first time that non-white people will be featured on British coins or notes. The plan has been submitted to the Royal Mint, which is to come up with proposals and designs.

Zehra Zaidi of the advocacy campaign ‘Banknotes of Colour’, along with a group of historians and MPs, had written to the Chancellor proposing some historical figures. Among them were the Indian-origin British spy Noor Inayat Khan, as well as Khudadad Khan, the first soldier of the British Indian Army to receive the Victoria Cross. Khudadad Khan, who belonged to the Chakwal district of Punjab in present-day Pakistan, died in 1971.

The continuing Black Lives Matter protests in the United States , triggered by the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis in May, which have put a spotlight on the lack of BAME representation in the UK, and have compelled authorities to take appropriate steps.

Who was Noor Inayat Khan?

Born in Moscow to an Indian father and an American mother, her family moved to London and then to Paris during the First World War. Although Noor started working as a children’s writer in Paris, she escaped to England after the fall of France (when it was invaded by Germany) during the Second World War.

In November 1940, she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, an arm of the UK’s Royal Air Force to train as a wireless operator. She then did a stint at the secret intelligence organisation set up by Winston Churchill called Special Operations Executive (SOE).

A bust of Noor Inayat Khan in Gordon Square, London. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

She became the first radio operator to be sent to Paris to work for SOE’s Prosper resistance network under the codename Madeleine. She was just 29 then, and had signed up for a job in which people were not expected to be alive for longer than six weeks.

Even as many members of the network were being arrested by the Nazi secret police Gestapo, Noor chose to stay put — and spent the summer moving from one place to another, sending messages back to London, until she was arrested in 1943.

She was executed at the Dachau concentration camp in southern Germany near Munich. Noor was awarded the highest honour in the UK, the George Cross, in 1949, and the French Croix de Guerre with the silver star posthumously.

What was Noor’s connection to India?

She was connected to India through her father Inayat Khan. He was founder of the Sufi Order of the West, which is now known as the Inayati Order. He had migrated to the West as n Hindustani classical musician, and then moved to teaching Sufism.

Inayat Khan was born in Baroda. His maternal grandfather was the noted musician Ustad Maula Bakhsh Khan, who founded the music academy Gyanshala, which now serves as the Faculty of Performing Arts at Maharaja Sayajirao University. Maula Bakhsh’s wife, Qasim Bibi, was a granddaughter of Tipu Sultan of Mysore.

Inayat returned to India in 1926 and chose the site of his burial at the Nizamuddin Dargah complex in New Delhi. The Inayat Khan dargah still stands in a corner of the complex.

Besides being a GC, what other honours has Noor received?

In 2014, Britain’s Royal Mail had issued a postage stamp in honour of Noor as part of a set of 10 stamps in the ‘Remarkable Lives’ series. In 2012, a memorial with a bust of Noor was unveiled in London by Princess Anne. Shrabani Basu, author of ‘Spy Princess, The Life of Noor Inayat Khan’, and Chair of the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust, had campaigned for the memorial.

In February 2019, Noor’s London home at 4 Taviton Street in Bloomsbury, the house that she left for her final mission, was honoured with a blue plaque. She was the first Indian-origin woman to be awarded the plaque.

How has Noor been represented in popular culture?

Various documentaries on women agents and the SOE have featured her story, such as Netflix’s ‘Churchill’s Secret Agents: The New Recruits’. In 2018, a play titled ‘Agent Madeleine’ premiered at the Ottawa Fringe Festival.

In 2012, Indian producers Zafar Hai and Tabrez Noorani obtained the film rights to the biography by Basu. In the film ‘Liberté: A Call to Spy’, an American historical drama, actor Radhike Apte played the role of Noor. The film had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival last year.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Explained / by Surbhi Gupta / New Delhi / July 29th, 2020

Meet Dr Rafat Seema, a scholar who lends helping hand to displaced Rohingyas, needy

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, , , , , ,

Hyderabad, TELANGANA :

Taking a class for the rohingya women

Hyderabad: 

With a doctorate in Islamic studies, Dr  Rafat Seema is an ‘Aalima’ and has been active in lending support to social causes from her student days. She is the founder of NISA, a woman’s organization through which she reaches out to the underprivileged.

When scores of Rohingya refugees first came to Hyderabad many organizations came forward to help them with food grains and clothes. Rafat Seema was also part of these drives.

“But being a scholar, my thoughts were different,” she shared with TwoCirlces.net, “I felt these material things will only provide help for some time and the people who are offering help will also stop after some time. After all, how long will people help? One day these refugees will have to fend for themselves. So why not give these people something that will not be exhausted? Something that will be of use to them for always? It was then that I decided that I can teach them to read the Quran, to read and write Urdu and English.”

Even as other organizations that  Rafat Seema is part of were conducting health camps for the Rohingyas, many of whom had external injuries and pains due to the tiresome journey and the hardships they went through in their attempts to escape the massacre, Seema was soothing their pains with her kind words and counselling.

Seema asked Shamshuddin, one of the Rohingyas who was in charge of the group, if the womenfolk would be interested to learn the holy Quran. He wholeheartedly agreed and even gave space for the classes in his small house.

“For the first class itself as many as 70 women of all age groups gathered and their faces were beaming,” recalls Dr Seema.

She began her weekly classes with the help of another volunteer from her organization as she could not manage the large group.

A class in progress at the refuge camp

Every week a volunteer accompanied her and several women made donations in the form of food grains, clothes and money. However, the volunteers would not come every day so she would take the class herself.

The trauma of the Rohingya refugees is unimaginable, she says, “Besides the food, clothes and medicines they needed some outlet to overcome. And the classes I took provided them with something to keep their minds occupied. Reading the Holy Quran had a soothing effect to calm their fears”.

After a year Dr Seema shifted her classes to another corner of the huge ghetto after realizing that many women needed the benefits of the class. She started a new batch in the house of Taha, another refuge, who helps the refugees by talking with donors and updating them about the needs of refugees.

After more than 3 years now, all the Rohingya refugees are all well settled in the pockets of the suburb of Hyderabad in Balapur, which is 15 kilometres from the main city.

Dr Seema’s students who are more than 100 are now able to read not just the Holy Quran but also the English alphabets, small words, they can add and subtract and write the numbers till 1000. The reason they picked up fast is she used to give them homework for the entire week.

“The interest of the women and the encouragement of their men is amazing. After the class, we talk about other issues. They tell me about their relatives who are in Bangladesh. Or about the marriages of the youngsters that have been fixed. Then I try to mobilize some fine clothes or a new set of cutlery for the marriage from the women of my organization,” Dr Seema said.

Dr Seema is not just their teacher but also their friend, counsellor, motivator and someone they can turn to in need of help.

For the other 6 days of the week, Dr Seema is busy with her organization Nisa Research and Resource Centre for Women, through which she creates awareness among Muslim women about their rights and helps them deal with their day to day problems.

She says women need to stand up for themselves and face the challenges without always depending on men.

She is also a director of another religious institute called Jamia Makarimul Akhlaq through which she helps children of the Rohingya refugees. The institute sends auto-rickshaws to the city once a week for half a day where the children are engaged in interactive sessions through which they learn to be worldly-wise. The children are provided with breakfast and lunch.

On other days the institute offers distance education to homemakers and dropouts.

Dr Seema ran a magazine by the name ‘Nisa’ to provide a platform for young female scholars but due to increasing costs, the magazine had to stop.

She also takes online classes in Arabic for women from all over the world. Her hands are always full of imparting education if not spending time with her grandchildren.

She is also associated with Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee and has actively participated in protests demanding justice for the innocent youth who were falsely implicated in the Makkah Masjid blast, in the murder case of Ayesha Meera and several other cases.

She also played an active part in helping the youth start afresh their lives after their acquittal in the Makkah Masjid case after their innocence was proved.

“If I can help someone even in a small way I feel happy. If we are privileged it becomes our natural duty to help those who need help. If not our existence has no meaning. A life without a purpose is meaningless. And my purpose is to help women realize their worth,” she said.

source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Indian Muslim> Lead Story > TCN Positive / by Nikhat Fatima, TwoCircles.net / July 24th, 2020

Al Hamd, Mesco commence COVID relief operations in Hyderabad

Community Involvement / Social Issues, COVID 19 - Community of Soldiers, Education, SCHOLARSHIPS, Science & Technology, Useful / HEALTHCARE, , , , , , ,

Hyderabad, TELANGANA :

“God forbid, if the patient dies, we have also kept arrangements in place to shift the body to the graveyard and also to look into other formalities like shroud, etc,” added Dr. Fakhruddin.

Hyderabad :

Al Hamd and Mesco led by Dr. Md. Fakhruddin Sahab and Abdul Azeem has initiated COVID relief operations. The team will function round the clock in the twin cities of Hyderabad-Secunderabad.

The team will be fully equipped with operational vehicles after a formal inauguration on 3 August, the operations then will begin in full swing. People can access their services through the helpline number 8008834011.

People of Hyderabad are panicked and confused with the way COVID is being managed in the state. Hospitals remain overcrowded with no beds available and the people are at a loss not knowing what to do. In such a scenario, Hyderabad is likely to explode, more so after Bakrid, predict some health care professionals.

Al Hamd and Mesco have jointly come to relief, especially the poor, marginalized sections of society from this mess. While several are unaware of being asymptotic or symptomatic others take it easy thinking they are invincible.

Equipment, arrangements in place

The team of Al Hamd and Mesco will focus more on preventing the spread of the disease. Talking to Clarion India, Dr. Fakhruddin, who is leading the team and is also the general secretary of the Mesco Foundation, said, “We will create awareness and educate the people on how to prevent the spread of the disease. And then among the identified cases, we will educate the attendants how to take care of themselves as they are taking care of the patient during home quarantine.”

“The medicinal sachets to be distributed in the containment zones will contain everything a COVID patient and his/her attendant needs. The sachet contains different packets for different uses such as a packet containing personal protection equipment such as soaps, gloves, masks, sanitisers. Another packet has immunity-boosting drugs such as tablets of vitamin C, Zinc, B complex, paracetamol, thermometer, pulse oxy-meter. The third packet will have virus-specific treatment medicines such as anti-biotic and other medicines as prescribed by the doctor.”

“Everything has been thought of. Even the attendant will be given a kit containing face shield, goggles, cap, shoe covers, masks. These will be available in the Mesco office and also delivered at doorstep as per the necessity,” added Dr. Fakhruddin.

Ambulance services are also available if the patient is critical. “And, God forbid, if the patient dies, we have also kept arrangements in place to shift the body to the graveyard and also to look into other formalities like shroud, etc,” added Dr. Fakhruddin keeping in mind the difficulties people are facing after the death of a COVID-infected person.

Since the team is operating low profile as of now, only people from the containment zones in the old city of Hyderabad are being taken care of as they are reluctant to get tested due to various rumours. The cost of test along with the treatment is crossing the margins of common men.

“The infection is spreading due to lack of knowledge, overconfidence among the people and carelessness. If one person in the family is infected, other family members are vulnerable. We plan to educate them about the initial symptoms which they should not ignore and start treatment soon even if they do not go for tests.”

“In 90% of the cases timely treatment has saved lives. Our main aim is to save patients from hospitalisation as much as possible. Many people are working to fight COVID and our work is also complementing these efforts. We have sought permission from the Drug Control Authority to supply oxygen as the Government of India has authorised the same,” said Dr Fakhruddin.

Call Centre

The volunteers at the call centre will receive the calls and counsel the people guiding them about the preventive methods and also train them to use the kits, especially using the thermometer and the pulse oxy-meter.

“Wrong readings of the oxy-meter have caused panic among the people. So, It is important to train the people on reading the thermometer, oxy-meter and ways to monitor the patient and sanitise as much as possible the articles used by the patient. We have also included tissues and wet wipes in the kit so they can dispose of them.” Dr Fakhruddin explained.

Economic situation analysed

“The medicinal sachets are given for a very nominal amount. Doorstep deliveries will be done to study the economic situation of the family. If the family is very poor, the team will also ensure they receive ration and other essentials. Thus, along with health care, even food supplies are provided,” Clarion India said.

For tests, the team has tied up with some diagnostic centres in the city which will charge the patients referred by the Al Hamd-Mesco team at a subsidised rate.

MPLAD funds

The team is also trying to rope in MLAs to use the MPLAD (Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) funds for this relief operation. Their work is already in the process of duplication in other states where the MLAs have come forward to provide financial assistance.

“A manual has been prepared which we have sent to other philanthropic institutions and doctors so they can also start relief operations at the earliest. We all need to work together irrespective of caste, creed and religion,” Dr Fakhruddin explained saying that the Mesco Foundation had been doing philanthropic activities for the past several decades now.

300 doctors and parademics

The organisation have a team of 300 doctors and trained paramedics as volunteers at the call centre to deliver the kits and to drive the vehicles.

The Al Hamd Charitable Trust which is sponsoring the entire operation cost is located in Secunderabad. The Trust chairperson and founder, Abdul Azeem Mohammed, said, “We are filling in the gap of the lapses in the way COVID is being handled by both the government and the corporate hospitals. While the corporate hospitals are fleecing the patients, the government hospitals are not fully quipped.”

“The relief operation process is very scientific but schematic. When a person calls on the helpline, it gets connected to the IT-based WhatsApp location logger and to the computer for the patient record maintenance. The coordinator who receives the call after taking the details connects to the doctor as per the need.

The required kit is then delivered to the home of the caller by the paramedics who will also check on the patient and see if there is a need for oxygen. The paramedics go along with oxygen concentrators if there is a need so that no time is wasted in making arrangements for an oxygen cylinder. Medicines for symptomatic or asymptomatic patients are prescribed by highly-qualified doctors,” said Abdul Azeem.

“We have no non-medical staff because every single person associated in this relief operation is trained. So we have medical and paramedical staff”, Abdul Azeem told Clarion India.

“We ensure sanitisation at the office. The staff is also in uniform and equipped with all precautionary devices. We want the attendant of the COVID patient also to be healthy so we have designed a kit for them as well.

The most important feature of this relief operation is a mobile ICU which is owned by a handful of hospitals in the city. The mobile ICU has a ventilator, defibrillator, ECG, Oxygen concentrator, etc.

Another important feature that has been designed for the mobile ICU is the dead body carrier which is a freezer and will be inserted perpendicular to the driver’s cabin,” Abdul Azeem added.

The Mesco Foundation runs 5 schools in Hyderabad. The foundation has Pharmacy College in Hyderabad. Apart from educational institutes, they also have healthcare services at nominal costs, and take up relief work during natural disasters.

Al Hamd Foundation is a charitable trust to help the poor, needy people through old-age homes, food distribution, healthcare, blood banks, scholarships for poor students, etc.

Both the foundations collaborate for most of their projects regarding healthcare. While Mesco provides technical support, the financing and manning are done by the Al Hamd Foundation.

source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home> News> Hyderabad / by Sana Sikander / July 07th, 2020

MP Inaugurates Comprehensive COVID Care At Bibi Ayesha Milli Hospital

Community Involvement / Social Issues, COVID 19 - Community of Soldiers, Karnataka (under research project), Science & Technology, Useful / HEALTHCARE, , , , ,

Mysuru, KARNATAKA :

Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha, who heads COVID-19 Task Force for Narasimharaja Assembly Constituency, this morning inaugurated the Comprehensive COVID Care facility set up at Bibi Ayesha Milli Hospital (BAMH) on Old Mysuru-Bengaluru Road. The Hospital has been converted into a modern 75-bed hospital and can be extended to 100 beds. 

Bibi Ayesha Milli Hospital has tied up with Brindavan Hospital for this initiative and the facility will be entirely managed by Brindavan Hospital. It has facilities including Intensive Care Units, Surgery and Haemodialysis, ventilator support and even can handle child birth cases of COVID-infected pregnant women.

The Brindavan Hospital and the Bibi Ayesha Milli Hospital will be treated as one hospital and as the State Government has mandated all Private Hospitals in the State to hand over their 50 percent of the beds to COVID care, all the beds at Bibi Ayesha Milli Hospital will be reserved for COVID patients and all the non-COVID patients will be treated at Brindavan Hospital. 

MP Pratap Simha inaugurating the Comprehensive COVID Care facility at the hospital along with Bibi Ayesha Milli Hospital President Iqbal Ahmed.

A team of specialist doctors, technicians and paramedical staff will run the Hospital with utmost precautions to help the District Administration in its efforts to control the pandemic. Bibi Ayesha Milli Hospital President Iqbal Ahmed, Dr. M.R. Aiyappa, General Physician and Diabetologist and Dr. Ravindranath, Orthopaedician at Brindavan Hospital, Dr. K. Javed Nayeem, Dr. Mohan, Dr. Imran and others were present.

Disinfectant tunnel 

On the occasion, a unique disinfectant tunnel was inaugurated by the MP where liquid is not sprayed on the entrants but are fumigated with thick smoke. The smoke is, however safe to inhale. The tunnel has been installed by S3V Technologies and is called ‘3V Safe Tunnel’. Impressed by the tunnel, MP Pratap Simha asked the company representatives to demonstrate the tunnel to Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G. Sankar so that such facilities can be installed at all the other COVID Care Centres, and hospitals. 

MP Pratap Simha seen exiting a unique disinfectant tunnel where people are fumigated at Bibi Ayesha Milli Hospital this morning.

Protest held, withdrawn 

A group of five to six people claiming to be members of Waqf Board in Mysuru objected to the conversion of Bibi Ayesha Milli Hospital into a COVID Hospital. Claiming to be the owners of the building and the property where the hospital stands, the members protested. They objected for the commercial use of the Hospital and at the same time said that the hospital is located in a thickly populated area and there is a danger of virus spreading. 

Narasimharaja Sub-Division ACP Shivashankar, Inspector Shekhar and Pratap Simha intervened in the protest and asked the Waqf Board members to withdraw the stir. They told the protesters that real estate matters could be sorted out in other platforms later.

The Hospital has been taken over as COVID-19 is a national disaster and people who object to such issued can be booked under National Disaster Management Act, they said. The protest was later withdrawn. 

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Covid-19> News / July 24th, 2020

CBSE 12th 2020 Topper Areeba credits her success to sister, a 2019 Ranker

Education, , , ,

NEW DELHI :

Another success story of a girl-student who topped the CBSE 12th 2020 board exams against all odds.

[Besides Areeba Irfan (first on Manish Sisodia’ right) the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister also met the #TeamEducation of the district and congratulated them for their smart work with our smart students. (Image: Twitter/@msisodia)]

CBSE 12th 2020 Topper: 

Another success story of a girl-student who topped the CBSE 12th 2020 board exams against all odds. This time, the inspiring story is of 21-year-old Areeba Irfan who topped the CBSE XIIth 2020 exam in Southeast Delhi.

CBSE 12th result 2020 was declared on July 13. However, Areeba Irfan, who topped her district without the help of any tuition classes, hit the headlines now after Delhi Chief Minister Manish Sisodia shared on Twitter the photos of his meeting with the young achiever.

“So happy to meet our all rounder Areeba Irrfan, the 12th class #DelhiGovtSchool topper of South East district, who aspires to become an IAS Officer. So proud of her!”, Sisodia wrote on Twitter, tagging the memorable images.

Talking to Indian Express later on, Areeba – daughter of a businessman and student of Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, New Friends Colony, credited her success to Zoya, her elder sister who was among the toppers in 2019.

“I didn’t attend any tuition classes as I preferred studying by myself. But my sister Zoya helped me with all my subjects. She had also studied in the same school as me and had topped last year”, Areeba, a Delhi Government school student, told The Indian Express while also acknowledging that her teachers too took special care in helping her prepare for the board exam.

Another inspiring success story of CBSE 12th that hit the headlines was of Nargis Nasreen. Nasreen passed the 12th board exam in first division despite losing her home and all her books in February 2020 Delhi riots.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the 12th result on Monday July 13, 2020. The overall Pass Percentage of Arts, Science and Commerce combined is 88.78% – a jump by 5.38% as compared the last year when the pass percentage was 83.40.

The CBSE did not officially publish any Merit List due to the impact Covid-19 had on 2020 board exams. But, the 12th result published by the CBSE showed a staggering 38,686 class 12 students across India scoring above 95% marks.

source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> Education & Careers / by Ummid.com News Network / July 23rd, 2020

‘We don’t charge a single rupee’: These volunteers have buried over 100 COVID-19 victims

Amazing Feats, Community Involvement / Social Issues, COVID 19 - Community of Soldiers, Karnataka (under research project), , ,

Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :

Wasim and 22 other men are part of NGO Helping Hands and they stay at the burial ground till 10 pm, doing what even family members of relatives are scared to do – burying COVID-19 victims’ bodies.

The team has completed over 100 burials of COVID-19 victims till date. (Photo | Shriram BN, EPS)

Wasim Zubair’s day begins with his prayers after which he heads to the burial ground at Quddus Saheb Edgar at 5.30 am to get a list of the deceased who will be brought for their last rites. 

Wasim and 22 other men are part of NGO Helping Hands and they stay at the burial ground till 10 pm, doing what even some family members are scared to do – burying COVID-19 victims.

The task is tiring as they have to sweat it out wearing their PPE kits, which they have to constantly change after each burial. There is no incentive for them to do this, not to mention the risk they run of contracting the infection.

Ask them why they do it and Abdul Muheeb, founder of NGO Helping Hands, says, “In April, we locals would see families struggling to carry the dead body of their relatives as very few people were turning up for the last rites fearing coronavirus. Seeing them helpless, and some of them not in the right state of mind while bidding farewell to their near and dear ones made us want to help. The happiness we get when we help them perform the last rites is unparalleled.”

Photo | Shriram BN, EPS

The team has completed over 100 burials of COVID-19 victims till date.

“We see fear of the virus that has gripped people world over, so much so that I witnessed the son of a dead father not wanting to perform the last rites. We tell one or two family members to join us so they know where the grave is. We give them PPE kits as well,” Muheeb said.

Wasim has seen several instances of brothers, sons and grandsons of elderly COVID-19 victims hesitating at the gates of the burial ground.

A cloth of 10 metres by 10 metres is placed on the ground, one horizontally and the other vertically. With the help of the handles of the body bag, they lift the body from the stretcher on to the cloth.

They then lift the cloth and lower the body into the grave. The stretcher is then sanitised and the last Namaz also done as per religious norms.

The JCB digs 30 pits at the burial ground in advance at the beginning of each day. 

Thankfully, none of the volunteers have contracted the virus so far.

Wasim says they take the necessary precautions and avoid getting too close to the body or even the primary contacts of the dead person.

“Most of our team members are youngsters. Our tagline is ‘Making it possible by his grace’. We spend our money on PPE kits but sometimes people donate a few kits to us. We don’t charge the family a single rupee,” Wasim said, speaking to The New Indian Express  even as three funerals were taking place on Tuesday afternoon.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Ranjani Madhavan / Express News Service / July 22nd, 2020

Ahmad Zaidi: A Brilliant Indian-American Success Story

Business & Economy, NRI's / PIO's, Science & Technology, World Opinion, , ,

Aligarh, UTTAR PRADESH/ Panipat, HARYANA / California, U.S.A

Ahmad Zaidi

AHMAD ZAIDI, who is originally from Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, and is a 1985 Electrical Engineering graduate from the Thapar Institute of Technology, Karnal, Haryana, epitomizes a brilliant success story in United States.

Zaidi is currently a vice-President at the world-renowned hi-tech giant, the Intel Corporation in the Silicon Valley in California, US.  He is among the very select band of bright young minds who migrated to US from India looking to contribute to the development of high technology and to making America great and India proud.

Zaidi holds nine patents in the field of microprocessor design and architecture. In US he earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, in 1987.

In 2009, Zaidi was presented an award by the Malaysian minister for setting up the Embedded Silicon Design Center in Penang, Malaysia. In addition, he and his teams have been honored with multiple technical awards, including an Intel Software Quality Award in 2011 and an Intel Achievement Award in 2012.

Ahmad Zaidi is vice president of the Platform Engineering Group and general manager of the Embedded Subsystems and Intellectual Property (IP) Blocks Group at Intel Corporation. He is also responsible for Security Silicon Engineering and manages Security CPU and IP engineering for the Intel Security Group. He leads an organisation that spans sites in the United States, Malaysia, Israel, Poland and India, and is responsible for delivering hardware, software, firmware IP subsystems and soft IP blocks for Intel products across all product segments. His group is chartered with delivering IP in areas such as audio, voice, speech, sensors, security, Input/Output (I/O) technologies and software related to storage, communications and manageability.

Since joining Intel in 1987 as an engineer in the microprocessor unit at Cupertino, CA, Zaidi has progressed rapidly and has held a number of senior technical and management positions in microprocessor design, embedded systems and communications. Before assuming his current position, he was the general manager of the Chipset and System-on-Chip (SoC) IP Group where he was responsible for delivering chipset hardware, firmware and software for Intel’s client platforms in addition to leading the development of reusable IP blocks for Intel products across all segments.

Prior to that, Zaidi was the general manager at Intel Corporation of the Embedded and Communications Silicon Engineering Group, where he led a cross-geography team responsible for delivering SoC and chipset products for the embedded and communications market segment. Earlier in his Intel career, Zaidi served as director of the Silicon Engineering, Infrastructure and Network Processor divisions and as engineering manager on the first Intel® Itanium® processor.

Ahmad Zaidi lives in Cupertino, CA with his wife and two children.  His father was an engineering manager at the Fertilizer Corporation in Paniput, Haryana. As a young man, Zaidi grew up in Paniput.

source: http://www.clarionindia.net/ Clarion India / Home> Indian Muslims / by Kaleem Kawaja, Clarion India / July 18th, 2020

Madurai chef opens school for parotta making

Business & Economy, Education,

Madurai, TAMIL NADU :

The ‘parotta master’ conducting a class on making the flat bread .   | Photo Credit:  G. Moorthy

Mohammed Khasim conducts a 30-day course and his batch already has 50 students

At 10 a.m. on Thursday, A. Mohammed Khasim’s student is sitting in the first chair, noting down ingredients for parotta in his notebook. Maida, salt, eggs, he writes and looks up. “cheeniyuma master?” (Sugar too, master?).

There is only one student in the morning batch of this parotta school for November, but Mr. Khasim says that A. Rajasekaran, the soon-to-be parotta master, works a day job. The veteran tries to find a way to accommodate his pupil early morning. In the evening though, his parotta school is filled with up to 50 students — some big and burly, others short and young, but all ready to perfect the art of this puffy flat bread. “My students either come with years of experience, waiting to perfect their skill but most others are fresh out of catering colleges, hoping to find good jobs outside the country,” he says.

Mr. Khasim, who began a school for people wanting to learn the art of making the perfect parottas three years ago in Koodal Nagar, says that the dish must be crispy and flaky on the outside but soft and easy to tear. The flat bread should be able to soak Madurai’s preferred gravy- chicken salna- into its layers while holding it all together steadily.

He says that the city’s undying love for the dish has led to a boom as it is now widely popular. It has also created a market in various other districts of Tamil Nadu and locations outside the country including Dubai, Sharjah, Malaysia, Singapore and the Maldives.

“This is why so many young people are waiting to learn how to make parottas. There is a large manpower shortage in the hotel industry as many people are unaware of the perfect way of rolling, shaping and making a parotta. Hoteliers in resorts outside India want to recruit south Indian masters because of our unique way of rolling out the dough without the help of a rolling pin. That is when I decided to open the school three years ago and impart my knowledge,” he says.

How it began

Mr. Khasim is a third-generation hotelier whose family has made parottas for about 70 years now. “My grandfather opened a small shop in Sikkandar Chavadi years ago and I have grown up to take care of the business. In those times, parotta would only be eaten with sambar. People began wanting spicier side dishes. That is why chicken curry and salna began making their way as potential side dishes,” he says.

Although Mr. Khasim says that he was always excellent at making parottas, making the perfect chicken curry was always a problem for him.

“When I tried to ask several masters to teach me, I realised that none of them were willing to. For six months, I worked undercover as a cook in a small hotel in Madurai to learn how to make the curry. During the first four months, the chef would make me do menial tasks when he would make his famous curry as he was paranoid about me taking over. The insecurity of losing one’s job is very prevalent in this field. That is when I decided that nobody else should suffer my fate,” Mr. Khasim says.

Mr. Khasim said that skilled parotta makers receive hefty advances amounting to about ₹50,000 and receive anywhere between ₹800-₹1,600 each day as salary.

He says that several students come to learn to start businesses since there was interest in entrepreneurship here. He says he has helped people set up small shops by taking them through the process of applying for MUDRA loans. “Some people come because they like cooking. I have taught pastors and professors too. Classes are truly interesting,” he says.

Mr. Khasim says he is in talks with Government Polytechnic College in Madurai to begin a certificate course in parotta making. “Though our students are recruited outside, people demand training certificates. The tie-up will help students secure good jobs,” he says and adds that he will be invited to teach on the campus soon.

He is also training women, particularly those who are part of self-help groups, to make good parottas and chapatis. “There is dearth of women in this job. So many of them are already great cooks. This skill will help them find better employment and make a variety of dishes,” he says.

His regular course lasts 30 days and costs ₹5,000 a month.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Cities> Madurai / by Sanjana Ganesh / Madurai – Novemer 30th, 2019